At yesterday’s extraordinary general meeting, more than 99% of shareholders voted to separate the book printing business from its parent company, leaving McPherson’s Limited solely focused on the larger consumer products side of the company.

The result of the vote means McPherson’s Printing will remain separate from McPherson’s Limited even if shareholders reject the McPherson’s-Opus merger, which will be put to ballot on 3 March.

McPherson’s Printing chief executive Alan Fahy said he expected the Opus deal to be approved by shareholders and the regulators.

Fahy added that the print business would benefit from being a separate entity that could focus on its core business.

At yesterday’s meeting, McPherson’s Limited directors and the independent expert argued that the parent company’s share price had suffered by owning an unrelated printing operation.

ProPrint broke the news of the reverse takeover by Opus Group in November.

Opus Group chief executive Cliff Brigstocke said a strong case had been put forward and said he couldn’t think of any reason why the merger would be rejected.

Although McPherson’s Printing would officially be acquiring the Opus Group, Opus shareholders would hold a majority stake, and Brigstocke added that the new company would carry the Opus name.

Both CEOs said it would be premature to comment on whether the merged company would make any job cuts or management changes.

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